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Burleigh Grimes

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox baseball biography

Burleigh Arland Grimes (August 18, 1893 – December 6, 1985) was an American professional baseball player and manager, and the last pitcher officially permitted to throw the spitball.<ref name=gshwmn>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=infmsspttr>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=trxotrd>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Grimes made the most of this advantage, as well as his unshaven, menacing presence on the mound, which earned him the nickname "Ol' Stubblebeard."<ref>Faber, Charles F., Burleigh Grimes, Society for American Baseball Research Biography Project</ref> He won 270 MLB games, pitched in four World Series over the course of his 19-year career,<ref name=ppg16lgsplr>Template:Cite news</ref> and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964. A decade earlier, he had been inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame.

Early lifeEdit

Born in Emerald, Wisconsin, Grimes was the first child of Cecil "Nick" Grimes, a farmer and former day laborer, and Ruth Tuttle, the daughter of a former Wisconsin legislator. Having previously played baseball for several local teams, Nick Grimes managed the Clear Lake Yellow Jackets and taught his son how to play the game early in life.<ref>Niese, p. 10.</ref> Burleigh Grimes also participated in boxing as a child.<ref>Niese, p. 12.</ref>

Grimes threw and batted right-handed, and was listed as Template:Convert tall and Template:Convert. He made his professional debut in 1912 for the Eau Claire Commissioners of the Minnesota–Wisconsin League.<ref name="Russo 147"/><ref>Christofferson, Jason. Diamonds in Clear Water: Professional Baseball in Eau Claire, 1886–1912. Self-published. 2013. p.143-155.</ref> From almost the beginning of his career, he threw a spitball, using slippery elm to alter the baseball's face.<ref name="Russo 147"/> He played in Ottumwa, Iowa, in 1913 for the Ottumwa Packers in the Central Association.

MLB careerEdit

File:BurleighGrimesGoudeycard.jpg
Baseball card of Grimes

Grimes played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1916 and Template:Baseball year. In 1917, he lost 13 straight decisions.<ref name="Russo 147"/> Before the 1918 season, he was sent to the Brooklyn Dodgers in a multiplayer trade.<ref name=Trade>Template:Cite news</ref> When the spitball was banned in 1920, he was named as one of 17 established pitchers who were allowed to continue to throw the pitch. According to Baseball Digest, the Phillies were able to hit him because they knew when he was throwing the spitter.

He then pitched for the New York Giants (Template:Baseball year), the Pirates again (Template:Baseball year–Template:Baseball year), the Boston Braves (Template:Baseball year) and the St. Louis Cardinals (1930-Template:Baseball year). With the Pirates in 1928, he posted a 25–14 record, posting the most wins, complete games, shutouts, and innings pitched of any NL pitcher.<ref name="Russo 148"/> In the 1931 World Series, despite suffering a dislocated vertebra before Game 7, Grimes pitched Template:Frac innings, earning the win to clinch the series victory for the Cardinals.<ref name="Russo 148"/> He was traded to the Chicago Cubs before the 1932 season in exchange for Hack Wilson and Bud Teachout.<ref name=Snyder>Template:Cite book</ref> He returned to the Cardinals in 1933 and Template:Baseball year, then moved to the Pirates (1934) and the New York Yankees (1934). Grimes was nicknamed "Ol' Stubblebeard", related to his habit of not shaving on days in which he was going to pitch.<ref name=HOF>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Grimes was a very good hitting pitcher in his major league career, posting a .248 batting average (380-for-1535) with 157 runs, 62 doubles, 11 triples, 2 home runs and 168 RBI. He also drew 69 bases on balls. He had nine seasons with 10 or more RBIs, with a high of 16 in 1920 and 1928. In four World Series appearances (1920, 1930–1932) he hit .316 (6-for-19) with 1 run and 2 RBI.

At the time of his retirement, he was the last player who was legally allowed to throw a spitball, as he was one of 17 spitballers permitted to throw the pitch after it was otherwise outlawed in 1920.<ref name="Russo 147">Russo, p. 147</ref> Baseball historian Frank Russo called him "baseball's most aggressive spitballer".<ref name="Russo 148"/> Grimes had acquired a lasting field reputation for his temperament. He was known for wanting to win in any way possible.<ref name="Russo 147"/> Prior to a game against the Giants late in 1924, Grimes organized a team meeting and said, "Anyone who doesn't want to play today's game to win, let me know right now."<ref>Russo, p. 147-48</ref> Then, on his first pitch, he knocked down a Giant.<ref name="Russo 148">Russo, p. 148</ref> He is listed in the Baseball Hall of Shame series for having thrown a ball at the batter in the on-deck circle.<ref>Bruce Nash, The Baseball Hall of Shame 2</ref> The only two batters Grimes apparently could not intimidate were Hall of Famers Frankie Frisch and Paul Waner. If Grimes threw a close pitch to them, the batters usually followed it up with a hard-hit line drive.<ref name="Russo 148"/> Grimes's friends and supporters note that he was consistently a kind man when off the diamond. Others claim he showed a greedy attitude to many people who 'got on his bad side.' He would speak mainly only to his best friend Ivy Olson in the dugout, and would pitch only to a man named Mathias Schroeder before games. Schroeder's identity was not well known among many Dodger players, as many say he was just 'a nice guy from the neighborhood.' Dodger manager Wilbert Robinson did not get along well with Grimes, using a clubhouse attendant to tell Grimes when he pitched so that he could talk to Grimes as little as possible.<ref name="Russo 148"/>

Grimes had a total of 36 Major League teammates who would later be elected to the Hall of Fame. No other Hall of Famer had more Hall of Fame teammates.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Post-playing careerEdit

Grimes moved to the minor leagues in 1935 as a player-manager for the Bloomington Bloomers of the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League. He started 21 games for the team, recording a 2.34 ERA and a 10–5 record.<ref name=BRMinors>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He did not pitch again after that season, moving on to manage the Louisville Colonels of the American Association.<ref name=BRMinors/>

Grimes was the manager of the Dodgers in 1937–38. He followed Casey Stengel's term as Dodgers manager.<ref name=Yannis/> He compiled a two-year record of 131-171 (.434), with his teams finishing sixth and seventh respectively in the National League. Babe Ruth was one of Grimes's coaches. Leo Durocher was the team's shortstop in 1937 and a coach in 1938.<ref name=Sentinel/> When Grimes was fired by general manager Larry MacPhail after the 1938 season, Durocher was hired to replace him. MacPhail said the team's morale had not been right for a long period of time.<ref name=PP>Template:Cite news</ref>

Grimes remained in baseball for many years as a minor league manager and a scout. He scouted for the Yankees, Athletics, and Orioles.<ref name="Russo 148"/>

He managed the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League from 1942 to 1944, and again in 1952 and 1953, winning the pennant in 1943.

As a scout with the Baltimore Orioles, Grimes discovered Jim Palmer and Dave McNally.<ref name=Sentinel>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref>

Grimes also assisted in managing the Independence Yankees in Independence, Kansas in 1948 and 1949, where Mickey Mantle started his professional career in 1949.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Later lifeEdit

Grimes was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Template:Baseball year. In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included Grimes in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.<ref>(1981 photo)</ref>

Grimes died following a protracted battle with cancer at age 92 on December 6, 1985, in Clear Lake, Wisconsin.<ref name="Russo 148"/> His wife Lillian survived him.<ref name=Yannis>Template:Cite news</ref> He is buried in the Clear Lake Cemetery.<ref name="Russo 148"/>

See alsoEdit

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NotesEdit

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ReferencesEdit

External linksEdit

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